A gladiator, an enforcer, a lawbringer, and a fragtrap walk into a bar…
In case you have not yet heard, thefull, interactive skill treesfor all four of the Vault Hunters in the upcomingBorderlands: The Pre-Sequelhave been released for public consumption.
Some of the mathematics governing the skill trees has been tweaked for thePre-Sequel, so in contrast withBorderlands 2, these new Vault Hunters will be able to reach the end of two of their three skill trees before hitting the initial level cap of 50.
Most people looking forward to the title had already decided on which character to main, but now we can all make more educated decisions. In my case, I am sure I will eventually play them all. So after reading every skill carefully, imagining how it will all play out on the battlefield, and spending far too much time tweaking skill points, I have come up with proposed builds for how I expect to play each of the new characters.
Athena the Gladiator
Action Skill:Kinetic Aspis. Press F to raise your Aspis and absorb all frontal damage. The Aspis can store a finite amount of absorbed damage as energy, based on your level. The Aspis is thrown at the end of the active duration, or if you press F again. The Aspis creates an explosion upon impact, dealing base damage plus double the stored energy, before returning to you.
Skill tree: PhalanxFocus: Defense for Athena and teamNotable skills:
Skill tree: Ceraunic StormFocus: Incendiary and shock elemental damageNotable skills:
My planned build (click for interactive version):
I plan to play Athena when I play cooperatively, and this build is all about supporting teammates, at the cost of a lot of skills that would increase Athena’s damage output. Vanguard and United Front help to keep teammates’ health and shields up, and Hold the Line supplements those by increasing the duration of those effects. Given the usefulness of instantly reviving teammates (especially for raid bosses or other high-level content), Clear! is a must-have skill for team play.
One point in Prepare for Glory brings aggro to Athena, making sure the Aspis is charged fully for the secondary abilities like Zeus’ Rage. With the shock damage from Smite, Superconductor, and Hades’ Shackles, Athena can take down enemy shields quickly, allowing teammates to specialize in incendiary or corrosive to wear away at flesh or armor.
Wilhelm the Enforcer
Action Skill:Wolf and Saint. Press F to summon Wolf and Saint, your trusty combat drones. Wolf will roam and attack enemies, while Saint will stay close to you and replenish your Health. Saint has a protective shield, but Wolf can be damaged by enemies. Press and hold F to recall Wolf and Saint and have some of your Cooldown refunded.
Wilhelm’s drones Wolf and Saint make him an ideal solo play candidate, so this build maximizes the abilities of the Surveyor bots. Fire Support, Venom Bolts, Kill Switch, and Omega Strike all increase Wolf’s offensive capability, while Energize, Zero Hour, and Overcharge improve Saint’s healing and shield buffs.
Fortify, Man and Machine, and Scramble all help to ensure Wolf stays alive to keep fighting. Laser Guided, Auxiliary Tanks, and Rapid Reinforcement extend the amount of time that Wolf and Saint are active, and decrease the amount of time waiting for them to recharge.
Nisha the Lawbringer
Action Skill:Showdown. Press F to activate Showdown, causing you to Automatically Aim at enemies and gain increased Gun Damage, Fire Rate, Reload Speed, Accuracy, and Bullet Speed with all gun types. Holding Mouse-2 and flicking Mouse in a direction allows you to quickly cycle to another target. Sniper Rifles and Rocket Launchers do not receive the damage bonus.
Skill tree: Law & OrderFocus: Gaining strength as damage is takenNotable skills:
Skill tree: Fan the HammerFocus: Increased non-elemental damage and Showdown abilityNotable skills:
Showdown looks great for dealing a ton of damage in a short period of time, and with Nisha’s cowgirl aesthetic and One For Each of Ya skill, I picture her wielding Jakobs pistols (high damage, no elements, quick reload) almost exclusively. This build plays to that idea with a lot of straight gun damage increases like Magnificent Six, High Noon, Quick Shot, Crack Shot and Tombstone.
Interestingly, some of the single-point skills are neglected here. Fistful of Bullets is left out because it works against the synergy between Magnificent Six and pistols. Impatience is not used because One for Each of Ya encourages use of pistols, and most pistols (Jakobs revolvers in particular) would not benefit much from it. Four points are allotted to Bona Fide Grit as the only health recovery skill outside the Law & Order skill tree, but if Nisha is paired up with an Athena, Wilhelm, or Claptrap with group-healing abilities, those points could easily go into Saddle Up for additional speed and gun damage.
Claptrap the Fragtrap
Action Skill:VaultHunter.EXE. Press F to run your VaultHunter.EXE program. It will analyze the situation, determine which Vault Hunter would do the best job, and then load an ACTION PACKAGE allowing Claptrap to fight in that manner for a short period of time. It also gives you Full Health and Health Regeneration. VaultHunter.EXE is still in beta and its definition of “Vault Hunter” is questionable at best. Warning: VaultHunter.EXE is currently classified as malware. Your allies may be affected.
Skill tree: BoomtrapFocus: Explosive damageNotable skills:
Skill tree: I Love You Guys!Focus: Healing and increasing stats for all teammatesNotable skills:
Hmm. I will admit, I had some trouble deciding what to do here. Though some of the skills in the Fragmented Fragtrap tree sound pretty great, the Subroutine idea that the tree is based on sounds really difficult to optimize, especially in a multiplayer game where pausing to rearrange equipment loadouts in the middle of battle is not an option.
Most of the skills in the I Love You Guys! tree were chosen to best benefit the team as a whole. In particular, Through Thick and Thin works well to allow teammates access to more reliable Action Skills more quickly, but requires Claptrap to use his own Action Skill. To supplement that, all of the additional ACTION PACKAGES from both the Boomtrap and I Love You Guys! trees are unlocked. Even with this build, Claptrap is a wildcard, but he can at least explode a lot of people and really buff up teammates.
So these are my initial reactions are to the full skill trees, but of course, the mark of a well-designed skill tree is its adaptability to different play styles. I built Athena to play a support role, Wilhelm to let his drones do all the work, Nisha to deal as much gun damage as possible, and Claptrap to make his teammates more awesome and not get too much in the way. Feel free to share your builds with what you would do differently.
